While calling for respect and recognition of the traditional African religious beliefs and practices, adding that not all religious beliefs were demonic, Most Rev Nicodème Barrigah-Benissan, the Archbishop of Lomé has described the push by some Pan-Africanists for a return to the practice of the African traditional religion as a reaction against the demonization of the ancestral cultures by westerners.“Indeed, carried by the mentality of their time and their ignorance of our cultures, many missionaries thought that all our rites and traditions were diabolical. It was therefore necessary to renounce it before being baptized. We must recognize it and humbly ask for forgiveness,” he said.
As Lubumbashi prepares to host the Third National Eucharistic Congress of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from June 4 to 11, Archbishop Fulgence Muteba has revealed that plans are underway to ensure the success of the congress despite the political and security tensions being witnessed in the region.
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Archbishop Barrigah-Bénissan, before joining the episcopacy, served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See between 1997 to 2008. His first mission was in Rwanda, where he contributed to the management of the legal consequences of the genocide, in particular the trial of a bishop. Then he was sent to El Salvador, and then to Ivory Coast, where he was present during the politico-military crisis. Finally, for a year, he was sent to Israel from March 2007 to March 2008